The Prime Minister was more willing to discuss the "serious breach" within his Ministry of Finance which allowed for nearly 100 BDF uniforms to be stashed away at a home in Orange Walk.
As we told you, that happened earlier this month when the Ministry of Finance contracted a gang of workers to destroy 1,200 uniforms and other BDF items that were written off. All these uniforms were supposed to have been burnt, but instead, law enforcement found a trove of them and other equipment at Sarco Torres's home. Torres was one of the men contracted by the Ministry - according to the Financial Secretary.
Pictures of text message conversations on Sarco Torres' phone have revealed that he was in communication with a senior BDF Officer, and an employee of the Ministry of Finance. Torres and the BDF soldier were discussing the deployment of BDF troops in the area.
The BDF only came up on these uniforms when they stopped a Mexican man - quite by happenstance - who was carrying a stack of them near the illegal border crossing with Botes, Mexico. As we told you, the BDF isn't conducting an investigation, and neither is the Ministry of Defence, which is waiting for the police to conduct theirs.
So what does the Ministry of Finance have to say? We asked the Prime Minister - who also chairs the National Security Council - about the possibility that these uniforms were intended for cross-border criminals:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Mr. Codd who is the ministry of finance official who was responsible for the destruction of the uniforms contracted the services of the gentleman in whose possession so many of the uniforms in fact were found. Clearly the ministry of finance's official did not oversee the destruction in a way that we would have like, in a way that ought to have been done and in the end the gentleman who was contracted to do the actual destruction, the actual burning, ended up not destroying everything and keeping an amount of the uniforms for himself."
Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"Messages have since surfaced in which gentleman Sarco Torres was in communication with a senior member of the Belize Defence Force. The concern is that this was part of an enterprise in which BDF uniforms would end up in the hands of persons who have nefarious purposes for them. Is that a concern for you?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I don't know that it is fair to say that that's not a possibility, but it is speculation on your part. Perhaps, legitimate speculation, but as of now that's all it is. Clearly, the police in particular must investigate the entirety of this matter and at the end of that investigation perhaps things will become clearer. But for now while I am concern at the prospect, not the certainty, at the prospect that that speculation that you just advance might turn out to be more than speculation."
"For the moment, until a proper investigation can be carried out, we have to leave it at that."
Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"Is there any intention for investigation as far as your office is aware?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In deed, we are talking about 2 things; we are talking about the ministry of finance's responsibility for the lax oversight that resulted in the person who was contracted to destroy the uniforms, nit having destroyed all and having kept some. That's one aspect that we have to deal with. But from the point of view of the speculation that there was this criminal enterprise that you alluded to. I imagine the police naturally will in fact look into this."
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